The use of high throughput satellites using spot beam technology has increased greatly as commercial satellite communication systems attempt to address the growing need for content such as video, audio, pictures, etc. Significant increases in capacity have also been achieved through spot beam technology which facilitates implementation of high level frequency reuse across multiple narrowly focused spot beams. As a consequence of the high number of spot beams, however, high throughput satellites have gateways or teleports that are geographically spread over great distances. Each gateway is responsible for provisioning connectivity to public and private networks through an internet service provider (ISP). Additionally, traffic monitoring such as legal intercept functions must be hosted at each gateway or teleport location. There are a number of other common functions that must also be executed at each gateway. All of these functions require complex hardware which increases the cost of operating and maintaining the gateway.
Since gateways are often spread out over great distances, it is often the case that they may be physically located in an area where a high speed ISP connection may not be available. Such gateways must, therefore, utilize slower and sometimes less advanced ISP connections in order to provide access to public and private networks. The slower ISP connections directly affect throughput for consumers, as well as quality of service. Additionally, it may not be possible to take advantage of advanced features of the satellite network if the ISP connection is less advanced and incapable of implementing such features.
As the number of consumers who rely on satellite communication systems continues to increase, service providers must continually expand the capabilities of each gateway in order to maintain acceptable levels of service, while also satisfying consumer desires for increased content. Service providers may also need to deploy additional gateways in order to support increased subscribers. The costs of expanding the number of gateways and the capabilities of each gateway can be very high, because expensive hardware components must be added to maintain similar levels of functionality across all gateways. Based on the foregoing, there is a need for an approach for centralizing common gateway functions at locations capable of supporting high speed ISP connections.